KORN Drummer On Dubstep Album: It Is 'Great To Be Part Of This Whole New Style'

Jason Price of Icon Vs. Icon recently conducted an interview with KORN drummer Ray Luzier. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Icon Vs. Icon: What was the most satisfying part of putting [the new KORN album] "The Path To Totality" together for you as an artist?

Luzier: I think it was great to be part of this whole new style. None of us are 22 anymore. We have been playing forever. I love challenges and I love stuff being brought to the table where you are like, "What do you have? Let's hear it!" Because I come from a progressive background. I did Billy Sheehan's last two solo records and a ton of "Guitar Hero" records where they are just blowin' 800 notes a second, ya know! [Laughs] This was quite the opposite, playing these giant sounding drums, that was the most excitement thing. Taking it on and playing it live has been amazing. Right now, we are on show number six of "The Path To Totality" tour.

Icon Vs. Icon: How has the new material been working for you guys on tour?

Luzier: It has been translating really great live. It is so much heavier because you can hear the crunching guitars, the bass, and I am actually playing all of the drum parts live. We have triggers on the drums, I have Tommy Lee of MTLEY CRE's drum tech right now, who is a master programmer. We are doing a whole dubstep set in the middle of the show and he programmed them so every time that I hit them it sounds exactly like what is on the record. I think it is really exciting that we are playing everything live. A lot of bands bum me out because there is so much on tracks and there are very few things live. I mean, come on! That is not what we paid money for when we go to see a live show! You want a live experience!

Icon Vs. Icon: As you mentioned, you guys have been touring relentlessly since the release of the last album and you aren't getting any younger. On a whole, is touring easier or harder for you these days?

Luzier: Ya know, I don't know if it's harder, it is just more challenging family-wise. We all have families and kids now, we didn't have that when we were younger so it is definitely more of a challenge. When we were younger, we were free and could stay on the road for 11 months out of the year and you didn't really care because you didn't have much to go home to. Before my son came along, I didn't care if I lived out of a suitcase for the rest of my life! [laughs] You just have this mentality that "this is what I do" and we live it. KORN is one of the few bands that have been around for a while that actually are not just in it for money purposes but are in it just because we love to play! We all have side projects and we all love a million different things. It's not the playing thing, we never get burnt on that. I think if any of us got burnt on the playing aspect of these songs, we would have to call it, but it is not that way at all. We are really into the tunes. The first two weeks of any tour, I am like, "That is a weird shoulder pain! I have never felt that one before. Oh yeah, I'm 40!" [laughs] But still, we love it! Look at OZZY OSBOURNE, IRON MAIDEN and METALLICA, seeing those guys still out there, running around and doing it is really inspiring!

Read the entire interview from Icon Vs. Icon.

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